th st congress session h. r. 5557

I

117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5557

To impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons that engage in certain

transactions relating to Cuba and to impose sanctions with respect to

human rights abuse and corruption in Cuba, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 12, 2021

Mr. DONALDS (for himself, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. MOONEY,

Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. BABIN, and Ms. MALLIOTAKIS) introduced the fol-

lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and

in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Rules, for a period

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-

ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee

concerned

A BILL To impose sanctions with respect to foreign persons that

engage in certain transactions relating to Cuba and to

impose sanctions with respect to human rights abuse

and corruption in Cuba, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1

tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Denying Earnings to 4

the Military Oligarchy in Cuba and Restricting Activities 5

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of the Cuban Intelligence Apparatus Act’’ or the 1

‘‘DEMOCRACIA Act’’. 2

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 3

(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 4

(1) The Cuban Communist takeover of 1959 es-5

tablished in Cuba a one-party authoritarian state of 6

the Cuban Communist Party. 7

(2) Cuba is a totalitarian state, in which the 8

Cuban Communist Party has brutally oppressed the 9

people of Cuba for more than 60 years. 10

(3) Cuban democracy activists, including Las 11

Damas de Blanco (also known as ‘‘Ladies in 12

White’’), a group composed of wives and relatives of 13

political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, and 14

peaceful activists in Cuba, are routinely repressed, 15

censured, beaten, and unjustly imprisoned by the 16

Cuban Communist Party. 17

(4) On July 11, 2021, protesters marched in 18

the streets throughout Cuba voicing their opposition 19

against the communist regime of Cuba. 20

(5) During those protests, Cubans in more than 21

40 cities throughout the entire island held dem-22

onstrations chanting ‘‘Libertad!’’, ‘‘Abajo la 23

Dictadura de Cuba’’ (‘‘Down with the Dictator-24


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•HR 5557 IH

ship’’), and ‘‘Patria y Vida!’’ (‘‘Homeland and 1

Life’’). 2

(6) Through those protests, the people of Cuba 3

demanded the end to communism in Cuba and ac-4

cess to food, medicine, water, and electricity, basic 5

needs that the communist system in Cuba cannot 6

provide. 7

(7) Cubans gathered outside of the head-8

quarters of the Cuban Communist Party chanting, 9

‘‘Cuba isn’t yours!’’. In a clear message, Cubans ex-10

ercised their fundamental God-given rights to peace-11

ably assemble, express their political opinions, and 12

live free of censorship and oppression and demanded 13

the ruling elites, especially the Cuban Communist 14

Party, give the power back to the people. 15

(8) During the July 11, 2021, protests, the 16

Cuban Communist Party deployed a wave of terror 17

throughout Cuba by— 18

(A) unleashing its secret police and some 19

military forces on peaceful protesters and un-20

lawfully detained them, including by— 21

(i) harassing and threatening people 22

in their homes; 23


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(ii) abducting and torturing civil soci-1

ety leaders and other Cubans peacefully 2

exercising their fundamental rights; and 3

(iii) detaining more than 800 Cubans 4

for peacefully protesting, who have gone 5

missing since the protests and demonstra-6

tions began, including leaders from Cuban 7

civil society groups such as UNPACU, the 8

San Isidro Movement, the Ladies in White, 9

and religious leaders; and 10

(B) in a crude and savage effort to silence 11

the Cuban people, cutting internet connectivity 12

and mobile services throughout Cuba, which 13

prevented the Cuban people from organizing 14

and hid from the outside world images and vid-15

eos of the oppressive and brutal crackdown. 16

(9) In response to these demonstrations and 17

protests, the regime blocked access to social media, 18

messaging platforms and cellular services, and ar-19

rested and detained hundreds of protesters, activists, 20

and journalists, according to Cuban human rights 21

groups. 22

(10) The Human Rights Report on Cuba for 23

2020 set forth by the Department of State found 24

that Cuba is an authoritarian state. 25


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(11) A new constitution ratified in February 1

2019 codified that Cuba remains a one-party system 2

in which the Cuban Communist Party is the only 3

legal political party. Elections in Cuba were neither 4

free, fair, nor competitive. 5

(12) The Ministry of Interior of Cuba 6

(MININT) controls police, internal security forces, 7

and the prison system. The National Revolutionary 8

Police are the primary law enforcement organization 9

of the Ministry. Specialized units of the state secu-10

rity branch of the Ministry are responsible for moni-11

toring, infiltrating, and suppressing independent po-12

litical activity. The national leadership of Cuba, in-13

cluding members of the military, maintain effective 14

control over the security forces. Members of the se-15

curity forces have committed numerous abuses. 16

(13) Significant human rights issues in Cuba 17

perpetrated by the Communist Party include the fol-18

lowing: 19

(A) Unlawful or arbitrary killings, includ-20

ing extrajudicial killings. 21

(B) Forced disappearances. 22

(C) Torture and cruel, inhuman, and de-23

grading treatment of political dissidents, detain-24

ees, and prisoners by security forces. 25


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(D) Harsh and life-threatening prison con-1

ditions. 2

(E) Arbitrary arrests and detentions. 3

(F) The detaining of political prisoners. 4

(G) Significant problems with the inde-5

pendence of the judiciary. 6

(H) Arbitrary or unlawful interference 7

with privacy. 8

(I) Functional lack of freedom of the 9

press, as criminal libel laws are used against 10

persons who criticize the ruling Communist 11

Party of Cuba and that it has engaged in cen-12

sorship and internet site blocking. 13

(J) Severe limitations on academic and 14

cultural freedom. 15

(K) Severe restrictions on the right of 16

peaceful assembly and denial of freedom of as-17

sociation, including refusal to recognize inde-18

pendent associations. 19

(L) Severe restrictions on religious free-20

dom. 21

(M) Restrictions on internal and external 22

freedom of movement. 23

(N) Inability of citizens to change their 24

government through free and fair elections. 25


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(O) Restrictions on political participation 1

to members of the ruling party. 2

(P) Corruption within the ruling party, the 3

Communist Party of Cuba. 4

(Q) Trafficking in persons, including com-5

pulsory labor. 6

(R) Outlawing of independent trade 7

unions. 8

(14) Many within the high level operatives of 9

the Communist Party of Cuba, at the direction of 10

their superiors, have committed most human rights 11

abuses. As a matter of policy, superiors failed to in-12

vestigate or prosecute the individuals who committed 13

those abuses. Impunity for the perpetrators has re-14

mained widespread. 15

(15) The United States Commission on Inter-16

national Religious Freedom (USCIRF) rec-17

ommended in its 2021 Annual Report that the 18

United States Government again placed Cuba on the 19

special watch list under section 402(b)(1)(A)(iii) of 20

the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 21

(22 U.S.C. 6442(b)(1)(A)(iii)) and recommended im-22

posing sanctions on the Office of Religious Affairs of 23

Cuba. 24


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(16) In the report specified in paragraph (15), 1

the United States Commission on International Reli-2

gious Freedom (USCIRF) raised concerns regarding 3

the denial in Cuba of religious freedom for human 4

rights activists, independent journalists, and pro-5

testers, particularly in the wake of demonstrations 6

that started on November 13, 2020, calling for 7

greater freedom of expression in Cuba. 8

(17) Cuba is ground zero for a series of inter-9

national and yet unexplained attacks that com-10

menced in 2016 on members of the United States 11

and Canadian diplomatic community. 12

(18) Cuba continues to provide safe harbor for 13

adversaries of the United States, including multiple 14

fugitives from justice in the United States, including 15

William Morales, Charles Hill, Victor Manuel 16

Gerena, and Joanne Chesimard, who executed New 17

Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster during a rou-18

tine traffic stop in May 1973. 19

(19) The Trade Sanctions Reform and Export 20

Enhancement Act (TSRA) of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7201 21

et seq.) prohibits the President from imposing uni-22

lateral agricultural or medical sanctions against 23

Cuba. 24


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(20) The defense, security, and intelligence sec-1

tors of Cuba are the primary perpetrators of beat-2

ings, arrests, detainments, and unjust 3

imprisonments of the Cuban people. 4

(21) The Cuban Communist Party has a long 5

history of racism. 6

(22) Many Cubans who suffered the worst 7

treatment at the hands of the security forces of the 8

Cuban Communist Party are Afro-Cuban, such as 9

Dr. Oscar Elıas Biscet, Jorge Luis Garcıa Perez, 10

Berta Soler, Guillermo Farinas, Orlando Zapata 11

Tamayo, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, and Ivan 12

Hernandez Carrillo. 13

(23) On January 12, 2021, the Department of 14

State determined that Cuba has repeatedly provided 15

support for acts of international terrorism and was 16

designated a state sponsor of terrorism. 17

(24) On May 14, 2021, Secretary of State 18

Antony Blinken determined and certified to Con-19

gress that Cuba is not cooperating fully with United 20

States antiterrorism efforts. 21

(25) The Cuban Communist Party continues to 22

support international terrorist groups such as the 23

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) 24

and the National Liberation Army (ELN). 25


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(26) Commercial engagement with the defense, 1

security, and intelligence sectors of Cuba empowers 2

the human rights abuses, racism against Afro-Cu-3

bans, and support for international terrorism by the 4

Cuban Communist Party. 5

(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-6

gress that Congress— 7

(1) reaffirms subsection (a) of section 1704 of 8

the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 (CDA) (22 9

U.S.C. 6003), which states that the President 10

should encourage foreign countries to restrict trade 11

and credit relations with Cuba in a manner con-12

sistent with the purposes of that Act; and 13

(2) urges the President to take immediate steps 14

to apply the sanctions described in subsection (b)(1) 15

of that section with respect to countries assisting 16

Cuba. 17

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 18

It shall be the policy of the United States— 19

(1) to support the desire of the people of Cuba 20

for freedom and democracy; and 21

(2) to work with allies and the international 22

community to seek to restrict and reduce the finan-23

cial resources of the Cuban dictatorship, which sup-24

ports terrorism and perpetrates injustice and human 25


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rights abuses against the Cuban people, that being 1

the Cuban military, security, and intelligence sec-2

tors. 3

SEC. 4. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO FOR-4

EIGN PERSONS THAT ENGAGE IN CERTAIN 5

TRANSACTIONS RELATING TO CUBA. 6

(a) IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS.— 7

(1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose 8

the sanctions described in subsection (b) with re-9

spect to a foreign person if the President determines 10

that the foreign person, on or after the date of the 11

enactment of this Act, knowingly engages in an ac-12

tivity described in paragraph (2). 13

(2) ACTIVITIES DESCRIBED.—Except as pro-14

vided in paragraph (3), a foreign person engages in 15

an activity described in this paragraph if the foreign 16

person provides financial, material, or technological 17

support to, or engages in a transaction with— 18

(A) a covered sector of the Government of 19

Cuba, or any entity or individual affiliated with 20

such sector (including an immediate adult fam-21

ily member of such individual); 22

(B) an agency, instrumentality, or other 23

entity owned by an entity that is part of or as-24

sociated with a covered sector, entity, or indi-25


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vidual described in subparagraph (A) in a per-1

centage share exceeding 25 percent; 2

(C) an individual who is a senior official of 3

a covered sector or entity described in subpara-4

graph (A) (including an immediate adult family 5

member of such individual); 6

(D) an agency, instrumentality, or other 7

entity operated or controlled by a covered sec-8

tor, entity, or individual described in subpara-9

graph (A); 10

(E) an entity or individual— 11

(i) for the purpose of avoiding a fi-12

nancial transaction with, or the transfer of 13

funds to, an entity or individual specified 14

in any of subparagraphs (A) through (D); 15

or 16

(ii) for the benefit of an entity or indi-17

vidual specified in any of subparagraphs 18

(A) through (D); 19

(F) a foreign person that is a military con-20

tractor, mercenary, or a paramilitary force 21

knowingly operating in a military, security, or 22

intelligence capacity for or on behalf of the 23

Government of Cuba; or 24


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(G) a foreign person subject to sanctions 1

pursuant to the International Emergency Eco-2

nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) 3

(IEEPA) or the Trading with the Enemy Act 4

(50 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.) with respect to Cuba 5

or any other provision of law that imposes sanc-6

tions or other economic restrictions or limita-7

tions with respect to Cuba. 8

(3) EXCEPTIONS.—The following activities en-9

gaged in by a foreign person shall not be considered 10

to be activities described in paragraph (2) for pur-11

poses of imposing sanctions described in subsection 12

(b) with respect to the person: 13

(A) The sale of agricultural commodities, 14

medicines, and medical devices sold to Cuba 15

consistent with the Trade Sanctions Reform 16

and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (TSRA) 17

(22 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.). 18

(B) A remittance to an immediate family 19

member, other than— 20

(i) an individual who is a high-level 21

member of the Cuban Communist Party; 22

or 23


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(ii) an individual who is an immediate 1

family member of an individual described 2

in clause (i). 3

(C) A payment in furtherance of the lease 4

agreement for, or other financial transactions 5

necessary for maintenance and improvements 6

of, the military base at Guantanamo Bay, 7

Cuba, including any adjacent areas under the 8

control or possession of the United States. 9

(D) Assistance or support in furtherance 10

of democracy-building efforts for Cuba de-11

scribed in section 109 of the Cuban Liberty and 12

Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 13

1996 (22 U.S.C. 6039). 14

(E) Customary and routine financial trans-15

actions necessary for the maintenance, improve-16

ments, or regular duties of the United States 17

Embassy in Havana, Cuba, including outreach 18

to the pro-democracy opposition. 19

(F) Accessing the internet or providing cel-20

lular services if the internet and cellular serv-21

ices have been restored, are without interference 22

from the Cuban regime, and do not include any 23

technology, services, or communications backed 24


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by the Communist Party of the People’s Repub-1

lic of China. 2

(4) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 3

Congress that the President should, in making a de-4

termination of whether a foreign person engages in 5

an activity described in paragraph (2), consider the 6

provision of loans, credits, or export credits by the 7

person to be a form of significant financial, material, 8

or technological support as described in such para-9

graph. 10

(5) COVERED SECTOR DEFINED.—In this sub-11

section, the term ‘‘covered sector’’ means— 12

(A) the defense sector; 13

(B) the security sector; 14

(C) the intelligence sector; or 15

(D) any other sector of the Government of 16

Cuba beginning 15 days after the date on which 17

the President certifies to Congress that such 18

sector is involved in carrying out human rights 19

abuses or providing support for international 20

terrorism. 21

(b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.— 22

(1) IN GENERAL.—The sanctions to be imposed 23

with respect to a foreign person subject to sub-24

section (a) are the following: 25


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(A) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The Presi-1

dent shall exercise all of the powers granted to 2

the President under the International Emer-3

gency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 4

U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and the Trading with the 5

Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.) to the ex-6

tent necessary to block and prohibit all trans-7

actions in property and interests in property of 8

the foreign person if such property and inter-9

ests in property are in the United States, come 10

within the United States, or are or come within 11

the possession or control of a United States 12

person. 13

(B) ALIENS INELIGIBLE FOR VISAS, AD-14

MISSION, OR PAROLE.— 15

(i) VISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.— 16

An alien who the Secretary of State or the 17

Secretary of Homeland Security (or a des-18

ignee of one of such Secretaries) knows, or 19

has reason to believe, has knowingly en-20

gaged in any activity described in sub-21

section (a)(2) is— 22

(I) inadmissible to the United 23

States; 24


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(II) ineligible to receive a visa or 1

other documentation to enter the 2

United States; and 3

(III) otherwise ineligible to be 4

admitted or paroled into the United 5

States or to receive any other benefit 6

under the Immigration and Nation-7

ality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 8

seq.). 9

(ii) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 10

(I) IN GENERAL.—The issuing 11

consular officer, the Secretary of 12

State, or the Secretary of Homeland 13

Security (or a designee of one of such 14

Secretaries) shall, in accordance with 15

section 221(i) of the Immigration and 16

Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 17

1201(i)), revoke any visa or other 18

entry documentation issued to an 19

alien described in clause (i) regardless 20

of when the visa or other entry docu-21

mentation is issued. 22

(II) EFFECT OF REVOCATION.— 23

A revocation under subclause (I)— 24


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(aa) shall take effect imme-1

diately; and 2

(bb) shall automatically can-3

cel any other valid visa or entry 4

documentation that is in the 5

alien’s possession. 6

(2) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 7

subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter-8

national Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) 9

(50 U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that vio-10

lates, attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or 11

causes a violation of any regulation, license, or order 12

issued to carry out paragraph (1)(A) to the same ex-13

tent that such penalties apply to a person that com-14

mits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of 15

that section. 16

(3) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH INTER-17

NATIONAL OBLIGATIONS.—Sanctions under para-18

graph (1)(B) shall not apply with respect to an alien 19

if admitting or paroling the alien into the United 20

States is necessary to permit the United States to 21

comply with the Agreement regarding the Head-22

quarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Suc-23

cess June 26, 1947, and entered into force Novem-24

ber 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the 25


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United States, or other applicable international obli-1

gations. 2

(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President shall exercise 3

all authorities under sections 203 and 205 of the Inter-4

national Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 5

U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out this section, except 6

that the President— 7

(1) shall not issue any general license author-8

izing, or otherwise authorize, any activity subject to 9

sanctions under subsection (a); and 10

(2) shall require any United States person seek-11

ing to engage in a financial transaction or transfer 12

of funds subject to sanctions under subsection (a) to 13

submit a written request to the Office of Foreign 14

Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury. 15

(d) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica-16

tion of sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect 17

to a foreign person for a period of 180 days (and such 18

waiver may not be renewed) if the President determines 19

and certifies to Congress that such waiver is in the vital 20

national security interest of the United States. 21

(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 22

(1) ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms ‘‘admitted’’ 23

and ‘‘alien’’ have the meanings given those terms in 24


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section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 1

(INA) (8 U.S.C. 1101). 2

(2) ENTITY.—The term ‘‘entity’’ means a part-3

nership, association, trust, joint venture, corpora-4

tion, group, subgroup, or other organization. 5

(3) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-6

son’’ means a person that is not a United States 7

person. 8

(4) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in-9

dividual or entity. 10

(5) UNITED STATES PERSON.—the term 11

‘‘United States person’’ means— 12

(A) a United States citizen or an alien law-13

fully admitted to the United States for perma-14

nent residence; 15

(B) an entity organized under the laws of 16

the United States or any jurisdiction within the 17

United States (including any foreign branch of 18

such an entity); and 19

(C) any person in the United States. 20


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SEC. 5. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO 1

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSE AND CORRUPTION IN 2

CUBA. 3

(a) IN GENERAL.—The President shall impose the 4

sanctions described in subsection (b) with respect to the 5

following persons: 6

(1) Any foreign person determined by the Sec-7

retary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Sec-8

retary of State and the Attorney General— 9

(A) to be responsible for or complicit in, or 10

to have directly or indirectly engaged in, serious 11

human rights abuse in Cuba; 12

(B) to be a current or former official of 13

the Government of Cuba, or a person acting for 14

or on behalf of such an official, who is respon-15

sible for or complicit in, or has directly or indi-16

rectly engaged in— 17

(i) corruption, including the misappro-18

priation of state assets, the expropriation 19

of private assets for personal gain, corrup-20

tion related to government contracts or the 21

extraction of natural resources, or bribery; 22

or 23

(ii) the transfer or the facilitation of 24

the transfer of the proceeds of corruption; 25

or 26


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(C) to be or have been a leader or official 1

of— 2

(i) an entity, including a government 3

entity, that has engaged in, or whose mem-4

bers have engaged in, any of the activities 5

described in subparagraph (A) or (B) re-6

lating to the tenure of the leader or offi-7

cial; or 8

(ii) an entity whose property and in-9

terests in property are blocked under sub-10

section (b)(1) as a result of activities re-11

lated to the tenure of the leader or official; 12

(D) to have materially assisted, sponsored, 13

or provided financial, material, or technological 14

support for, or goods or services to or in sup-15

port of— 16

(i) any activity described in subpara-17

graph (A) or (B) that is conducted by a 18

foreign person; 19

(ii) any person whose property and in-20

terests in property are blocked under sub-21

section (b)(1); or 22

(iii) any entity, including a govern-23

ment entity, that has engaged in, or whose 24

members have engaged in, any of the ac-25


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•HR 5557 IH

tivities described in subparagraph (A) or 1

(B) of paragraph (1), if the activity is con-2

ducted by a foreign person; 3

(E) to have received any contribution or 4

provision of funds, goods, or services from any 5

person whose property and interests in property 6

are blocked under subsection (b)(1); 7

(F) to be owned or controlled by, or to 8

have acted or purported to act for or on behalf 9

of, directly or indirectly, any person whose 10

property and interests in property are blocked 11

under subsection (b)(1); 12

(G) to be under the control of, or to act for 13

or on behalf of, the military, intelligence, or se-14

curity services or personnel of Cuba; 15

(H) to be an official of the Government of 16

Cuba who works with the Ministry of Justice or 17

the Office of the Attorney General and who vio-18

lates due process rights of an individual in 19

Cuba; or 20

(I) to have attempted to engage in any of 21

the activities described in subparagraph (A) or 22

(B). 23

(2) Members of the Communist Party of Cuba, 24

including— 25


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•HR 5557 IH

(A) members of the Politburo; 1

(B) members, department heads, and em-2

ployees of the Central Committee; 3

(C) secretaries and first secretaries of the 4

provincial party central committees; and 5

(D) members of the Office of Religious Af-6

fairs; 7

(3) members of the Council of State; 8

(4) members of the Council of Ministers; 9

(5) members of the Committees for the Defense 10

of the Revolution; 11

(6) the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba; 12

(7) the Ministry of the Interior of Cuba, includ-13

ing the National Revolutionary Police Force; 14

(8) the Office of the President of Cuba; and 15

(9) the spouse and children of any individual 16

subject to sanctions under this section. 17

(b) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.— 18

(1) IN GENERAL.—The sanctions to be imposed 19

with respect to a foreign person subject to sub-20

section (a) are the following: 21

(A) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.—The Presi-22

dent shall exercise all of the powers granted to 23

the President under the International Emer-24

gency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 25


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•HR 5557 IH

U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent necessary to 1

block and prohibit all transactions in property 2

and interests in property of the foreign person 3

if such property and interests in property are in 4

the United States, come within the United 5

States, or are or come within the possession or 6

control of a United States person. 7

(B) ALIENS INELIGIBLE FOR VISAS, AD-8

MISSION, OR PAROLE.— 9

(i) VISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.— 10

An alien who the Secretary of State or the 11

Secretary of Homeland Security (or a des-12

ignee of one of such Secretaries) knows, or 13

has reason to believe, has knowingly en-14

gaged in any activity described in sub-15

section (a)(2) is— 16

(I) inadmissible to the United 17

States; 18

(II) ineligible to receive a visa or 19

other documentation to enter the 20

United States; and 21

(III) otherwise ineligible to be 22

admitted or paroled into the United 23

States or to receive any other benefit 24

under the Immigration and Nation-25


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•HR 5557 IH

ality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 1

seq.). 2

(ii) CURRENT VISAS REVOKED.— 3

(I) IN GENERAL.—The issuing 4

consular officer, the Secretary of 5

State, or the Secretary of Homeland 6

Security (or a designee of one of such 7

Secretaries) shall, in accordance with 8

section 221(i) of the Immigration and 9

Nationality Act (INA) (8 U.S.C. 10

1201(i)), revoke any visa or other 11

entry documentation issued to an 12

alien described in clause (i) regardless 13

of when the visa or other entry docu-14

mentation is issued. 15

(II) EFFECT OF REVOCATION.— 16

A revocation under subclause (I)— 17

(aa) shall take effect imme-18

diately; and 19

(bb) shall automatically can-20

cel any other valid visa or entry 21

documentation that is in the 22

alien’s possession. 23

(2) PENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in 24

subsections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the Inter-25


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•HR 5557 IH

national Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 1

U.S.C. 1705) shall apply to a person that violates, 2

attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 3

violation of any regulation, license, or order issued 4

to carry out paragraph (1)(A) to the same extent 5

that such penalties apply to a person that commits 6

an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of that 7

section. 8

(3) EXCEPTION TO COMPLY WITH INTER-9

NATIONAL OBLIGATIONS.—Sanctions under para-10

graph (1)(B) shall not apply with respect to an alien 11

if admitting or paroling the alien into the United 12

States is necessary to permit the United States to 13

comply with the Agreement regarding the Head-14

quarters of the United Nations, signed at Lake Suc-15

cess June 26, 1947, and entered into force Novem-16

ber 21, 1947, between the United Nations and the 17

United States, or other applicable international obli-18

gations. 19

(c) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President shall exercise 20

all authorities under sections 203 and 205 of the Inter-21

national Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) (50 22

U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out this section, except 23

that the President— 24


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(1) shall not issue any general license author-1

izing, or otherwise authorize, any activity subject to 2

sanctions under subsection (a); and 3

(2) shall require any United States person seek-4

ing to engage in a financial transaction or transfer 5

of funds subject to sanctions under subsection (a) to 6

submit a written request to the Office of Foreign 7

Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury. 8

(d) HUMANITARIAN EXCEPTION.—The President 9

may not impose sanctions under this section with respect 10

to any person for— 11

(1) donating food or agricultural commodities 12

to— 13

(A) an independent, nongovernmental or-14

ganization not controlled by the Government of 15

Cuba; or 16

(B) individuals in Cuba who are not high- 17

level members of the Communist Party of Cuba 18

or the immediate family member of any such 19

individual; or 20

(2) exporting medicines or medical supplies, in-21

struments, or equipment that would be permitted 22

under section 1705(c) of the Cuban Democracy Act 23

of 1992 (CDA) (22 U.S.C. 6004(c)). 24


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(e) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica-1

tion of sanctions under this section with respect to a per-2

son if the President determines that such a waiver is in 3

the national security interests of the United States. 4

(f) NO PRIOR NOTICE.—The President, the Sec-5

retary of the Treasury, the Secretary of State, and the 6

Attorney General, and any other official of the United 7

States Government are not required to provide any prior 8

notice of a determination made under subsection (a) or 9

of any other determination to impose sanctions under this 10

section. 11

(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 12

(1) ADMITTED; ALIEN.—The terms ‘‘admitted’’ 13

and ‘‘alien’’ have the meanings given those terms in 14

section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 15

(INA) (8 U.S.C. 1101). 16

(2) ENTITY.—The term ‘‘entity’’ means a part-17

nership, association, trust, joint venture, corpora-18

tion, group, subgroup, or other organization. 19

(3) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-20

son’’ means a person that is not a United States 21

person. 22

(4) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ means an in-23

dividual or entity. 24


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(5) UNITED STATES PERSON.—the term 1

‘‘United States person’’ means— 2

(A) a United States citizen or an alien law-3

fully admitted to the United States for perma-4

nent residence; 5

(B) an entity organized under the laws of 6

the United States or any jurisdiction within the 7

United States (including any foreign branch of 8

such an entity); and 9

(C) any person in the United States. 10

SEC. 6. TERMINATION OF SANCTIONS. 11

(a) IN GENERAL.—The authority to impose sanctions 12

under sections 4 and 5 shall terminate if— 13

(1) the President submits to Congress a deter-14

mination and certification that the Government of 15

Cuba— 16

(A) has legalized all political activity; 17

(B) has released all political prisoners and 18

allowed for investigations of Cuban prisons by 19

appropriate international human rights organi-20

zations; 21

(C) has dissolved the Department of State 22

Security in the Cuban Ministry of the Interior 23

in place as of the date of the enactment of this 24

Act, including the Committees for the Defense 25


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of the Revolution and the Rapid Response Bri-1

gades; 2

(D) has made public commitments to orga-3

nizing free and fair elections for a new govern-4

ment— 5

(i) to be held in a timely manner with-6

in a period not to exceed 18 months after 7

such certification; 8

(ii) with the participation of multiple 9

independent political parties that have full 10

access to the media on an equal basis, in-11

cluding (in the case of radio, television, or 12

other telecommunications media) in terms 13

of allotments of time for such access and 14

the times of day such allotments are given; 15

and 16

(iii) to be conducted under the super-17

vision of reputable internationally recog-18

nized observers, such as the Organization 19

of American States, the United Nations, 20

and other election monitors; 21

(E) has ceased any interference with Radio 22

Marti or Television Marti broadcasts; 23

(F) has made public commitments to and 24

is making demonstrable progress in— 25


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(i) establishing an independent judici-1

ary; 2

(ii) respecting internationally recog-3

nized human rights and basic freedoms as 4

set forth in the Universal Declaration of 5

Human Rights, to which Cuba is a signa-6

tory nation; and 7

(iii) allowing the establishment of 8

independent trade unions as set forth in 9

conventions 87 and 98 of the International 10

Labor Organization, and allowing the es-11

tablishment of independent social, eco-12

nomic, and political associations; 13

(G) does not include Raul Castro or his 14

immediate family; 15

(H) has given adequate assurances that it 16

will allow the speedy and efficient distribution 17

of assistance to the people of Cuba; 18

(I) is demonstrably in transition from a 19

communist totalitarian dictatorship to a rep-20

resentative democracy; 21

(J) has made public commitments to and 22

is making demonstrable progress in— 23

(i) effectively guaranteeing the rights 24

of free speech and freedom of the press, in-25


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•HR 5557 IH

cluding granting permits to privately 1

owned media and telecommunications com-2

panies to operate in Cuba; 3

(ii) permitting the reinstatement of 4

citizenship to Cuban-born persons return-5

ing to Cuba; 6

(iii) assuring the right to private 7

property; and 8

(iv) taking appropriate steps to return 9

to United States citizens, and entities that 10

are 50 percent or more beneficially owned 11

by United States citizens, property taken 12

by the Government of Cuba from such citi-13

zens and entities on or after January 1, 14

1959, or to provide equitable compensation 15

to such citizens and entities for such prop-16

erty; 17

(K) has extradited or otherwise rendered 18

to the United States all persons sought by the 19

Department of Justice of the United States for 20

crimes committed in the United States; and 21

(L) has permitted the deployment through-22

out Cuba of independent and unfettered inter-23

national human rights monitors; and 24


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(2) a joint resolution approving the determina-1

tion and certification of the President submitted 2

under paragraph (1) is enacted into law in accord-3

ance with the procedures described in subsection (b). 4

(b) CONGRESSIONAL PROCEDURES.— 5

(1) REFERRAL TO COMMITTEES.—Joint resolu-6

tions described in subsection (a)(2) that are intro-7

duced in the House of Representatives shall be re-8

ferred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 9

joint resolutions described in subsection (a)(2) that 10

are introduced in the Senate shall be referred to the 11

Committee on Foreign Relations. 12

(2) PROCEDURES.— 13

(A) SENATE.—Any joint resolution de-14

scribed in subsection (a)(2) shall be considered 15

in the Senate in accordance with the provisions 16

of section 601(b) of the International Security 17

Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 18

1976 (Public Law 94–329; 90 Stat. 765). 19

(B) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—For 20

the purpose of expediting the consideration and 21

enactment of a joint resolution described in 22

subsection (a)(2), a motion to proceed to the 23

consideration of any such joint resolution after 24

it has been reported by the appropriate com-25


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•HR 5557 IH

mittee shall be treated as highly privileged in 1

the House of Representatives. 2

(C) LIMITATION.—Not more than one joint 3

resolution described in subsection (a)(2) may be 4

considered in the House of Representatives and 5

the Senate during the 6-month period beginning 6

on the date on which the President submits to 7

Congress a determination and certification 8

under subsection (a)(1). 9

SEC. 7. PROVISION OF UNRESTRICTED INTERNET SERVICE 10

FOR THE PEOPLE OF CUBA. 11

(a) IN GENERAL.—Effective immediately upon the 12

date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall use 13

all means possible to provide unrestricted, reliable internet 14

service to the people of Cuba that is not censored, blocked, 15

or otherwise restricted by the Government of Cuba and 16

does not include any technology, services, or communica-17

tions backed by the Communist Party of the People’s Re-18

public of China. 19

(b) NOTIFICATION.—The President shall notify the 20

appropriate committees of Congress once an internet con-21

nection has been established to provide unrestricted, reli-22

able internet service under subsection (a). 23

(c) INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE.— 24


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(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days 1

after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 2

President shall establish an interagency task force to 3

develop a long-term solution for providing reliable 4

internet service to the people of Cuba that is not 5

censored or blocked by the Government of Cuba. 6

(2) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 7

the date of the enactment of this Act, the inter-8

agency task force established under paragraph (1) 9

shall submit to the President and the appropriate 10

committees of Congress a report that outlines the 11

best long-term solutions of the interagency task 12

force for providing reliable internet service to the 13

people of Cuba that is not censored, blocked, or oth-14

erwise restricted by the Government of Cuba. 15

(d) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS.—In 16

this section, the term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-17

gress’’ means— 18

(1) the Committee on Homeland Security and 19

Governmental Affairs, the Committee on Foreign 20

Relations, and the Select Committee on Intelligence 21

of the Senate; and 22

(2) the Committee on Homeland Security, the 23

Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent 24


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Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 1

Representatives. 2

Æ


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th st congress session h. r. 5557

Documents